


Do We Justify the Future?

by InterstellarVagabond



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, mostly towards the end, vague komahina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 03:36:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18984427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarVagabond/pseuds/InterstellarVagabond
Summary: Hajime and Nagito have a chat about hope that turns into an accidental debate and breakdown. They also somehow manage to find a way to tease and flirt with each other despite the emotional wreckage they find themselves navigating.





	Do We Justify the Future?

**Author's Note:**

> alright not only is this my first danganronpa fic but I've only played the game/seen the anime once and my memory sucks so I'm praying I remembered all the little canon details right not to mention did at least semi okay on the characterization. 
> 
> As always this fic is brought to you largely unedited and at one in the morning, I hope you enjoy no joke intended.

Things somehow managed to calm down on the trip back to Jabberwock, despite the battle they’d just fought and the ruse they’d pulled to help Naegi. After everyone ate and celebrated, and Ibuki blasted their eardrums with a victory song, people slowly found their way to their beds or their stations depending on the shifts. Not that the boat needed much help guiding itself home after Kazuichi had seen to it. 

However, not everyone was retiring for the night. Hajime found himself still leaning against the guardrail and watching the vast stretch of ocean pass by. He thought he was alone, until he sighed and someone responded to it.

“Wow, you sound pretty stressed.”

Hajime only jumped a little when Nagito joined him, and chuckled at the comment.

“Sorry about that,” he said playfully. “Must be all the trauma.”

“Aw, you’re not gonna let that start bothering you now, are you?” Nagito joked back, his face almost too cheerful for the gallows humor.

“What bothers me is your sleeve,” Hajime said, gesturing to the torn and frayed section of Nagito’s jacket. “You gotta get that fixed. What did you even do to it? Stick it in a blender?”

“You know, I can’t remember,” Nagito said passively. “Things are still coming back to me bit by bit, and sometimes I have trouble remembering what was real and what was from the simulation. Though, I suppose we should consider that real too in a way.”

Hajime wondered if Nagito really didn’t remember, or if he was dodging the question. He decided not to pursue the issue though.

“It’s too bad we had to play the remnants again,” he said instead, changing the subject. “I hope that video does the trick and was worth it.”

“It’ll be worth it,” Nagito said. “I’m sure our despair will inspire hope again.”

Hajime snorted and shook his head. In the couple of weeks following Nagito’s awakening and making their way to the Future Foundation to lend a hand, he hadn’t had much of a chance to talk one on one with his old friend and rival. It seemed like not much had changed though, he was still chasing that ideal hope he valued so much higher than everything else.

“Would you explain that to me again?” Hajime asked, genuinely wanting to understand that despair and hope connection that made Nagito tick. “I know we’ve talked about it before but I could use a refresher.”

“What, you weren’t taking notes?” Nagito teased.

“I didn’t know there was going to be a test!” Hajime smirked. “Are you gonna explain or not?”

“It’s simple,” Nagito said, already losing Hajime at those first two words. “Hope shines brightest in the midst of despair, like a candle in a dark cave. If the whole world is sunny, you can’t find that light, you forget it’s there and stop reaching out for it. Humanity falls to a standstill, we stop moving forward. It’s regrettable, but we need that despair in small doses in order to highlight what’s special about hope.”

“I don’t know,” Hajime sighed. “I guess I just don’t see what’s so bad about a world where you don’t need to hope, cause everything’s already okay.”

“Well, I guess not everyone has motivation in their lives, huh?” Nagito said, and it took Hajime a moment to realize he was being made fun of.

“I can feel a reserve course joke coming on, so let me remind you that at sea no one can hear you scream when you’re thrown overboard.”

Nagito laughed, and made a placating gesture. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I guess… I’m just confused,” Hajime said, returning to the topic. “You fight against despair, you hate everything it stands for, it ruined your life and made you a whole different person… but you still want it?”

“It’s not about wanting it,” Nagito said. “It’s about needing it. Sometimes hope needs a reason to form, and what better reason than a despair that threatens to leave you stagnant and broken?”

“Couldn’t hope come from hope just as easily?” Hajime asked. “Don’t people feel they can do better when they see other people doing better? Hope’s Peak inspired people long before it became the epicenter of the tragedy.”

“True, but it wasn’t enough.” Nagito frowned. “Students skipped class, stopped honing their skills, they lost their passion… I suppose in the end it was hope that inspired them again, but it took longer and it was harder. Hope inspiring hope is like growing a flower carefully over time, hope from despair is like lighting a match suddenly and easily.”

“Why does it have to be sudden and easy?” Hajime asked. “I mean, couldn’t-”

“Because then there would be no reason for the bad things that happen!” Nagito said, voice growing more frantic. “And if bad things just happen, if it’s just left to… to…  _ chance _ , then it’s my fault they happened!”

“Nagito, calm down,” Hajime tried to grab Nagito’s arms, but they evaded his grasp and wrapped themselves around Nagito’s shaking form. Something was wrong. Nagito didn’t get defensive when he went on one of his rants, he was always confident or at least cheerfully self deprecating. Hajime had only seen fear in Nagito’s eyes once, and that was in another life when they each took turns staring down the barrel of the same gun.

“If the things that happened to the people around me were just bad luck, if… if they weren’t bad in the name of the greater good then they were just bad,” Nagito said, starting to pace. “It has to be for hope, it has to be for something bigger, I have to be small and unimportant and I have to help people to hope or else people are just people. And if there’s no organization in those who are a symbol of hope and those who should be sacrificed for it, then people die everyday and-”

At this point Nagito shook his head, and wiped a nervous sweat from his brow. He steadied himself on the guardrail and stared down at the ocean as though he was considering jumping in. 

“You didn’t have to keep asking,” he said, but the anger in his voice was drowned out by the way it trembled. 

Hajime drew closer, putting a hand on Nagito’s back. Nagito reacted to the touch with surprise, which ironically was not a surprise. It always seemed clear he wasn’t used to physical contact. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

Nagito took a shuddering breath and shrugged. “Well, it’s nothing that isn’t true. I meant to stop fooling myself a long time ago, but one hope led to another and... it was too comforting to pass up.”

“... you were talking about specific bad things just now, weren’t you?” Hajime asked carefully. 

Nagito remained silent, his frown growing deeper. He didn’t have to answer though, Hajime was around for a lot of the bad things Nagito was a part of, and the rest he either knew from talking with him or from educated guessing. 

“The others are supposed to be better than this,” Nagito said suddenly, drawing Hajime’s attention back to him. “But not me. I’m a stepping stone. I’m worthless if I’m not that. I can see their potential to rise above despair and do good once more.” 

Nagito paused, his fingers playing with the frayed sleeve of his jacket. He stared at the prosthetic just below it, and Hajime knew he was seeing a different hand there.

“But me?” Nagito sighed, forcing his frown back into a calm smile. “My talent only helps half the time, and who I am as a person certainly doesn’t help at all.”

“Come on,” Hajime sighed. “You’re not that bad.”

“I lack many things, Hajime,” Nagito said with a bitter smirk. “Self-awareness is not one of them. I know how I sound, and I know how my actions affect others no matter how well intentioned.”

“Well…” Hajime searched for the right response. “... you keep trying at least. Hey, that’s more than me. Not that it’s hard to be better than a reserve course deadbeat, right?”

Nagito barely chuckled, but his shoulders relaxed a little and he let go of his sleeve. “Well with all your man-made talent you’re almost a match for me now.”

“I’ve kicked your ass before, Komaeda.”

“You shot me. Hardly the same thing. And I lived, so you didn’t even shoot me well.”

Hajime laughed, elbowing Nagito just a little too hard forgetting the guy was basically made of skin, bones, and paper mache. 

“You know I’m glad Izuru didn’t make you change your mind about me,” Hajime said.

“What do you mean?” Nagito asked, tilting his head curiously.

“I was afraid you’d start kissing my ass again because of my ultimate talents,” Hajime said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually missed you messing with me. I mean, in the normal way. Not in the murder way. Like friends do.”

“Tragic that you have to explain that.” Nagito rolled his eyes. “But… we’re friends?”

“If you want,” Hajime said. “I know our history isn’t all great, but those first couple of days… I liked hanging out with you.”

“... Hajime you have such bad taste,” Nagito sighed. “An ultimate, wasting his time with me of all people.”

“Kiss my ass or kick it but pick one, jeez,” Hajime groaned. “You’re making me dizzy with this back and forth.”

“... I would like to be your friend,” Nagito said, ignoring the comment. “But I don’t know if… if I deserve it or if it’s even safe. I’m still me after all, baggage and luck are part of the package.”

“You’re not the only one with luck,” Hajime said. “I’ll be fine, we’ll cancel each other out.”

“Or we’ll enhance each other’s bad luck,” Nagito said worriedly. “If you have every ultimate talent, you have ultimate bad luck too don’t you think?”

“I… never thought about it,” Hajime said. “Huh… oh man do I?”

Nagito shrugged helplessly while Hajime had a mild panic over the question. 

“Well, whatever,” he said. “Let’s be friends anyway. Baggage doesn’t matter, we’re building the future not reliving the past remember?”

“If you really want to be friends with someone like me…” Nagito sighed. “I… wouldn’t be opposed.”

“I  _ hoped  _ you wouldn’t be.”

“I’ve suddenly changed my mind.”

“Pffft.” Hajime watched as the sun finally dipped down over the horizon, and stars started to decorate the night sky. He watched Nagito stare into nothing and see something.

“Hey…” Hajime said. “Really though… you get a fresh start too. It’s not about whether or not you deserve one. We’re all stuck in the muddy gray area of what was us and what was our puppetmasters… but it doesn’t matter. We have a chance to start again, so why not take it? I think you could do it.”

Nagito stared at Hajime with wide awed eyes. “Hajime…”

“You don’t have to keep justifying the bad things, and you don’t have to live in fear of them either. If anyone can find hope another way, it’s you,” Hajime said.

“... your hope really is so beautiful,” Nagito sighed in admiration. 

“Just my hope, huh?” Hajime joked, pretending at vanity by running a hand through his hair and winking. 

“Well, there are other things about you I find beautiful,” Nagito replied, knocking the smug amusement right out of Hajime and replacing it with a flustered blushed. 

“Wait, what?” he asked, but Nagito was already heading for the stairs that led below deck. “Nagito! Nagito, what does that mean?”

“You should get some rest, Hajime,” Nagito said, not bothering to turn around as he waved goodbye lazily. “Unless you’re the ultimate all-nighter-puller too.”

“God, you’re such an asshole,” Hajime huffed, pretending it was anger heating his cheeks. 


End file.
